Photo: Nataliya Vaitkevich / Pexels
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday changed its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines and now suggests that high-risk populations receive an additional dose 12 months after their last booster.
In the United States, CDC data updated to March 24 show that Oklahoma ranks 14th in the nation for COVID-19 death rates per capita.
The CDC says the United States has an average of 31,313 cases per 100,000 people and 338 deaths per 100,000 people. The state with the highest death rate, excluding New York and New York City which report separate COVID-19 data, it is Arizona with 455 deaths per 100,000.
According to the health agency, high-risk populations include older adults, as well as younger people with other significant risk factors.
For this group, the agency recommends an additional injection of the vaccine either 6 or 12 months after the last dose, depending on factors such as age and immunocompromised conditions.
While the group that includes healthy children and adolescents as a “low priority” the WHO urged countries to consider factors such as the burden of disease before recommending their vaccination.
In a briefing on Tuesday, the agency said its latest advice reflected the current landscape of the disease and levels of global immunity, but it should not be viewed as a long-term guide as to whether annual boosters would be needed.
Vaccine boosters at 6 months
The agency’s statement comes just as countries are taking different approaches to their populations. For example, the UK and Canada are already offering COVID-19 boosters to high-risk people this spring.
The WHO said this was an option for a subset of people who were at particular risk, but its recommendations were intended to be a global best practice guide.
The agency’s expert committee had also said that additional COVID booster shots beyond the initial series (two shots and one booster) were no longer routinely recommended for people at “medium risk.”
To date, investigations into the emergence of COVID-19 in Wujan, China continue; as well as ways to fully mitigate the disease.
Keep reading:
• What is babesiosis, the new disease on the rise in the northeastern US.
• Drug-resistant ‘Candida auris’ fungus spreading in US, CDC says
• Ozempic face: a “side effect” of the most used drug in the US for weight loss